Pentel was established with the production and distribution of crayons, watercolours and other school stationery in 1946 as Japan Stationery Co., Ltd and has been exporting those products overseas since 1953.

In 1971, it changed its name to ‘Pentel,’ combining the words ‘painting’ and ‘pastel’ which symbolizes the company’s products and businesses.

One of the long-established products produced by Pentel is the ‘Sign Pen’. When first launched in 1963 sales of the Sign Pen started off relatively slowly. The company therefore decided to distribute samples of the pen to a trade fair in the US. Somehow one of the pens was passed onto U.S. President Lyndon Johnson and he liked it very much. This news was reported in the media, and the Sign Pen became a big hit. Following this, the pen was adopted as the official writing instrument for NASA, so the pen traveled into outer space. This news grasped the attention of Japanese people and transformed the pen into a long-selling product for the company.

Pentel is not only a stationery company, with its superior technologies, Pentel’s business area has expanded further incorporating: electronic devices such as capacitive touch screen switches, liquid crystal pen tablets, functional plastic containers such as cosmetic containers and medical components and machines along with tools such as automation robots for making cars and medical products.